


Winter Solstice

by bear_iris



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: AU, F/M, First Meetings, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-11
Updated: 2015-06-11
Packaged: 2018-04-04 00:07:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4119514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bear_iris/pseuds/bear_iris
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A trip to Target ends in a chance meeting for Barry and Iris. AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	Winter Solstice

**Author's Note:**

> My first fan fic in over a decade. I can't take all the credit for this idea. My sister just started watching The Flash, and she was inspired when I asked her how she would like for Barry and Iris to meet. This is what I came up with. I hope it's okay. No beta was used, so...

It's around 1 pm on a cold Tuesday afternoon. Snow had fallen the night before, despite the weatherman stating it would miss Central City by miles. Iris makes her way to the always crowded local Target shopping center. She drives down an aisle of the parking lot, filled with cars on either side with no luck. She then tries to look for a spot closer to the entrance. Risky move, she knows. Then there's someone in a small green Honda pulling out of the first parking spot just outside the store entrance.

"Sweet!" she said with a bright smile.

She quickly flicks on her turn signal to indicate to the drivers behind her that it's the parking spot she wants, and pulls into it after the green Honda leaves. She quickly shuts off the engine, grabs her keys, cell, and her purse, and braces herself for the chilly wind that's been blowing for the past hour or so. The snow crunches under her barely knee high black boots as she makes her way to the entrance of the the store. She grabs a red cart, puts her purse in the top, and makes her way over to the produce section.

There are a few people milling around the carrots already, so she makes her way over to the bin of onions. Across form her stands a young guy, probably around her age, mid twenties she would guess, picking through potatoes. She quickly grabs an onion before the man notices her surreptitious glances in his direction. He's really tall, she notices, with large green eyes and short dark brown hair. He's got that adorable nerd thing going for him that she just so happens to like. He's too preoccupied with trying to decide between reds or russets to notice her checking him out. After holding the same soft onion for a while, Iris decides to get back to her regularly scheduled shopping. She puts down the soft onion, because that won't do, and searches for a firm healthy looking onion.

Meanwhile, the tall man with the big green eyes looks up at her, just as he's found the bag of potatoes he's been looking for. He pauses when he sees her.

'How long has she been standing there,' he wonders to himself. He takes a moment to admire her while she's not looking. He knows it will take some effort to find good onions in that batch because he'd just been in that bin not 5 minutes ago. He notices how petite she is, a beautiful young thing. Maybe a year younger than him if that. She's dressed in a large black coat, with just a hint of a soft looking ivory sweater underneath it. A slouchy, ivory colored beanie sits at the top of her head. She has almond shaped brown eyes, long hair, dark skin, full pouty lips, and he thinks she's the most beautiful thing he's ever seen.

He blinks, and decides to finish his shopping. Barry could stand there and stare at her for hours, but then he'd never get to his parents house in time to make his winter solstice soup for the party. Well that, and he didn't want to come off like some creepy dude. 

His mom Nora is a very well known chef and restaurant owner in Central City. Many of his weekends are spent in her restaurant kitchen, and he's an aspiring chef himself. Determined to follow in Nora's footsteps. Tonight, his parents are holding a Christmas party in their home for their closest friends and family. Barry had of course invited his good friends Cisco, Caitlyn, and her fiancé Ronnie.

'Let's see what else is on my list,' Barry thinks to himself. He makes his way out of the produce section, and down the aisle towards the seasonings.

Iris reaches into her purse to pull out her cell. She glances at the screen before answering. It's her father Joe.

"Hi Dad, is everything okay," she asks with a frown and a bit of concern in her voice.

"As good as they can be right now baby girl." he says with a hoarse voice and a sniffle. "Can you pick me up another box of those tissues I like? I'm all out," says Joe.

"Of course Dad. I'll be back in about 15 okay. You hang in there," says Iris. They say their goodbyes, and she presses the end button on her phone.

'Okay, I've got the onion, celery, and carrots. What else is on my list,' Iris says to herself. She wants to make Joe a big pot of her homemade chicken noodle soup. He's come down with a bug that's been going around CCPD. Almost everyone in the department, including Capt Singh, has been out of work for at least a few days at a time. Initially Joe thought he was one of the few lucky ones to have dodged the flu like virus, but in reality he was the last one to catch it. A few days before Christmas to boot. Iris thinks he got it from his recently recovered partner Eddie, since he'd been seen with a box of tissues and Sudafed not long ago. She leaves the produce section and heads over to the seasoning aisle. 

"I'll need a black peppercorn grinder and bay leaves." she says as she approaches aisle three. 'Oh, look who's here. Adorable nerd guy. I wonder what he's making,' she thinks to herself.

They're both looking for spices. Iris grabs the plastic jar of black peppercorns, and Barry says, "Oh, excuse me," with a smile as he reaches next to Iris to grab a large box of kosher salt.

'One last item, bay leaves,' he thinks to himself. He reaches out to grab the jar as he's reading his list of ingredients off his cell, but instead comes in contact with a small soft hand. He glances up and beautiful stranger, as he's grown to calling her, has her hand on the very last jar of bay leaves.

"Oh, I-I'm sorry," Barry says with his cheeks turning slightly pink during their exchange.

"It's okay," says Iris. "It looks like we both want the same thing. I-I mean as far as spices go of course." She smiles and breathes out a nervous breath she didn't know she was holding.

"Yeah, it sort of looks that way." Then Barry's cheeks turns a darker shade of pink as he realizes that they're both still holding onto the jar. Which means he's still holding her hand. "Oh, I guess you'll want that back," he smiles nervously, and let's out a shaky laugh.

"Yeah, haha. Um, here. You can take it," she tries to hand him the jar of leaves.

"No way. What kind of gentleman would I be if I took the last jar away from a lady?" He says with a hint of confidence. "What are you making anyway," he asks, but he can already tell from the items in her shopping cart. Probably chicken noodle soup from the looks of it.

"Oh, it's for my Dad. He's been sick for the past couple of days, so I've been taking care of him. I decided to make him my famous chicken noodle soup," she says with a mega watt smile.

"Wow," says Barry. He doesn't know if he's more impressed with what she said or her smile. Yeah, it's definitely that smile.

After a beat with the both of them just standing there, her with a big smile on her face, and him with a look of pure awe on his, she says, "So, what are you making?"

"Uh-uh oh, I'm making what my mom likes to call winter solstice soup. My parents are having a get together with close friends and family tonight. Sort of a makeshift Christmas party, but it's more to celebrate winter solstice. My mom works as a chef, and I'm sort of her apprentice, and now I'm rambling, sorry," he says as he rubs a tickle at the back of his neck.

"No way, it's okay. I'm Iris by the way." She reaches out with the hand not holding the bay leaves.

"Oh, I'm Barry. It's nice to meet you Iris." He reaches out to take her small hand into his, and gives it a proper shake.

She glances down at his large hand in hers and looks up with a smile. "Well, it's nice to meet you too Barry." They continue to shake hands for a moment longer than necessary, and Iris is the first one to notice. "Oh, haha." She lets go of his hand and feels like she's already missing the contact. "Well, I should get going. I still have a few things to pick up. Thank you for letting me have the last jar."

"Oh it was nothing," he says as he's shaking his head. "Besides, your Dad needs your famous chicken noodle soup. I can just make a run to the grocery store just up the street and pick up a jar," he says with a smile.

Iris just stands there looking up at Barry with his impossibly long eyelashes, and his thousand watt smile.

"Wow," she says with an answering smile.

"What?"

"What? Um, I mean I should probably get to it then, haha," says Iris.

"Sure. Good luck with everything."

"You too Barry. Good luck with the party."

"Thank you."

They both go their separate ways. Iris thinks about Barry the entire time she's shopping, and Barry does the same, but about her. They end up at the check out aisle at the same time. The only lane open outside of the express lane is lane 7.

"Gotta love Target," he says from behind her. His cart in front of him.

"Oh yeah, ten people in line to check out, and they only have two lanes open."

They continue to exchange small talk, oblivious to everyone else around them, until Iris is done paying for her order. They exchange goodbyes for a second time, and then Iris is on her way. She stops for a moment, to close up her coat a bit more, and to brace herself for the December chill. She carefully walks to her car, and pops open the trunk. As she's placing the last bag of groceries in the car, she hears his voice again. It's Barry.

"Hey um, I don't usually do this at all, but I was wondering if you'd like to have lunch with me sometime? You know, like a date where we could sit down and eat food instead of talking about it in the middle of Target, and why am I rambling again? Of course you know what a lunch date is, and I'm just going to be quiet now." His ears are now a cute shade of pink and he's doing that rubbing his neck thing again which Iris suspects he does whenever he's nervous. 

She finds it adorable, so she smiles and says, "Of course I will Barry."

He returns her smile, and they stand there for a few moments like nothing else in the world matters.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry the ending is kind of meh. I just love nervous Barry and Iris.


End file.
